Chinese New Year 2014… in Paris…
“Le… Dragon“…
Loomed… large…
Formidable…
Its… huge head…
Its body… rippling…
Undulating… gliding…
Effortlessly… confidently…
Through the streets of Chinatown… in Paris…
We were… ecstatic…
The… Dragon…
Has always been… a powerful symbol of China…
In fact… we were celebrating the…
Chinese New Year 2014…
It… was…
Wonderous… colourful…
Balloons… of all shapes and colours… were looming high above…
Drums… were being beaten by groups of different bands of a mixed variety of Chinese… and other Asian “Indochine” nationalities… Vietnamese… Cambodian… Thailandese… all embellished with an amazing cornucopia of festive costumes…
Thrilling… exhilarating…
The Chinese… New Year 2014…
The year of the… Wood Horse…
It is the most important annual celebration… following a special calender… with each year changing into a different animal sign… which in turn is meant to take the characteristics of a specific animal…
Astrology… is also taken extremely seriously in Chinese culture…
The Wood Horse of 2014… is associated with “enthusiasm… warmth… and robustness”… also a tendancy to be “overbearing and resistant to authority”… Voila…
We attended one of the biggest and most popular… of the many different annual parades taking place in Paris…
“Grand défilé du Nouvel An Chinois“… winding through the streets of the “Quartier
chinois du 13e arrondissement“… created in the 1980’s… this event has become “l’événement incontournable“… of the capital.
Each year it attracts more than 200 000 spectators… made up of local residents plus visitors from all over France and abroad…
We followed the cheerful boisterous procession with its… dancers… dragons (our favourite)… lions… horses… winding through the streets of the Avenue d’Ivry… Avenue de Choisy… Place d’Italie… eh bien…
We continued celebrating the New Year… by having “thé vert parfumé au jasmin“… accompanied by delicious delicacies in the exotic Chinese tearoom… “L’Empire des Thés“… joining the large crowd of the F
ranco-Chinese community…
Tired after an elaborate exciting day… we headed home with a little miniature Chinese wooden horse…
While… wishing all…
“Un Joyeux… Nouvel An Chinois…
2014… Année de cheval“…
A… Happy Chinese…
New…
Year…
a.